Avraham Shochat

Avraham Shochat (

Avraham ("Beiga") Shochat was born in Tel Aviv during the Mandate era. After serving in the Israel Defense Forces as a corporal in the Nahal paratroopers, he attended the Technion, where he gained a BSc in civil engineering. During his studies he was elected chairman of the Student Union.

Shochat was married to Tama, daughter of Israeli prime minister Levi Eshkol, with whom he had three children.^[2]

Shochat was one of the founders of the modern city of Arad in 1962. As a civil engineer, he helped to plan Arad’s first permanent housing development.

Shochat died on 28 February 2024, at the age of 87.^[4]

In 1967 Shochat became head of the Arad local council. He served as mayor of Arad for twenty years. In addition to his mayoral duties he was deputy chairman of the Union of Local Authorities, chairman of the Development Towns Committee of the Union of Local Authorities.

In the

After leaving the Knesset, Shochat was commissioned to produce a report on tuition fees for Israeli university students. His report, published in July 2007, recommended raising fees for Bachelor's degrees by 70% and increasing government funding for higher education by NIS 1.5 billion.^[5]